The Obama administration should take greater steps to promote religious freedom internationally. In First Things magazine, Thomas Farr notes the importance of religious freedom in American efforts abroad. "Religious freedom plays a necessary role in the consolidation of democracy, in economic development, and in social harmony," he says. Religious freedom leads to respect for dissenting views of all kinds, allowing […]
Excerpt: The Senate passed a defense bill with strong bipartisan support last week that includes important language to strengthen and protect the religious freedom of military members and chaplains. https://www.worldmag.com/mobile/article.php?id=28724
On September 28, President Obama picked up the phone and called Iranian President Rouhani who was traveling back to JFK airport after speaking at the United Nations in New York. In addition to discussing Iran's nuclear-enrichment program, the presidents spoke about Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American citizen, who was arrested because of his faith while visiting Iran over a year ago. This was the first time since the Islamic revolution of 1979 that a U.S. President has spoken with an Iranian president. Secretary of State John Kerry and the U.S. Congress have also been calling for Pastor Saeed's release.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit on September 23 against Consol Energy on behalf of a Christian who refused to sign into work using a biometric hand scanner
Not that long ago our communities instinctively understood that religion was a positive force. Barry Bussey briefly introduces what it is about religion that our forefathers and mothers thought was not only important but essential.
On September 19, a bipartisan group introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would prevent the federal government from discriminating through the tax code against individual religious believers who hold the principle that marriage is a union of one man and one woman. According to bill author, Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID)H.R. 3133, the "Marriage and Religious Freedom Act," "will ensure tolerance for individuals and organizations that affirm traditional marriage, protecting them from adverse federal action." The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Steve Scalise, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-NC), and Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL).
Though, in its current form, the charter is limited to regulating the religious expression of government employees there can be little doubt that given time, considering the inflationary nature of state bureaucracy to expand its influence in citizen's private lives, this policy of "neutrality" will move further toward the private sector employees.
Excerpt: WASHINGTON – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 80, vowed in an interview to stay on the Supreme Court as long as her health and intellect remained strong, saying she was fully engaged in her work as the leader of the liberal opposition on what she called "one of the most activist courts in history." http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/us/court-is-one-of-most-activist-ginsburg-says-vowing-to-stay.html?_r=0&
The Assiut Adventist Church, located approximately 220 miles south of Cairo, was attacked by a mob and heavily damaged after it was set on fire. The pastor and his wife hid in their upstairs apartment and were not found by the attackers, who set the building on fire. The pastor and his wife were rescued from the burning building by Muslim neighbors.
Faith is either something that informs one at all times or it isn’t anything at all, really. When the Chinese government tells its citizens that they can worship in a certain building on a certain day, but once they leave that building they must bow to the secular orthodoxy of the state, you have a cynical lie at work. They’ve substituted a toothless “freedom of worship” for “freedom of religion”.
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